Experiential Design Integrate

If you’ve ever stepped inside a themed restaurant (like Hard Rock Cafe), an amusement park ride, an airport terminal or an exhibition hall, chances are you have experienced experiential design. This design methodology is growing in popularity and companies are competing to deliver the best and most unique experiences for their customers and clients.

Experiential design is more than just a theme; it evokes emotion and creates connections. It involves understanding the customer journey and creating a narrative that connects with their needs and aspirations. It also integrates with agile development methodologies, allowing designers to respond quickly and adapt to change.

In its broadest sense, Experiential Design incorporates all aspects of a person’s interaction with a space: physical, cognitive, social and cultural. It may use storytelling via graphic design, environmental and sensory cues, or interactive recognition to convey a desired message.

How Does Experiential Design Integrate With Agile Development Methodologies?

This approach is closely tied to brand strategy and often requires collaboration with multiple disciplines including UI and UX, graphics, AV, lighting, and a host of other specialties to achieve the desired outcome. The entertainment industry uses it to create memorable concerts and events that connect with the audience and encourage social media sharing, while retail stores and hospitality destinations (including sports arenas, casinos, hotels, restaurants and shopping malls) utilize it to promote their brand and attract new visitors.

To successfully create a meaningful experience, it’s important to identify and prioritize your desired outcomes. Then, develop a concept that outlines all the necessary elements to achieve those goals. Finally, execute the project to meet the goals and deliver the experience.

As experiential design becomes more mainstream, it’s vital for designers to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and techniques. They must also understand how to integrate these concepts with the Agile development process, which emphasizes continuous delivery of valuable software. Agile processes welcome change at any point in the process, leveraging it to deliver projects on time and within budget.

To start a project on the right foot, kickoff meetings should include all relevant stakeholders. This includes experience designers, product managers, engineers and other team members. In addition, it’s important to walk through the experiential design project canvas, which is a template for laying out a vision and planning the project’s deliverables. Creating this document ensures that all of the necessary phases of the design process are included in the plan. It’s also a great way to communicate expectations between teams and help everyone align on expected results. This will prevent conflicting goals and assumptions later in the project. It’s also helpful for designers to have a clear understanding of how the experience design will impact business outcomes.